Finnish President calls on Europe to choose between Putin and democracy
Photo: Finnish President Alexander Stubb (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
European countries must choose between supporting the aggressive world order promoted by Russia and embracing freedom and democracy, says Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Stubb's remarks at the conference in Helsinki were directed against a number of European countries where nationalist tendencies are undermining support for Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, in particular, are actively cooperating with Vladimir Putin, threatening the unity of Europe's approach to his full-scale war against Ukraine.
"In Europe, we are faced with an important decision," Stubb said in his speech, without naming specific countries.
But he called on them to choose "between spheres of interests and the use of force, or the sovereignty of states and common rules and principles."
"Returning to a world order in which spheres of influence dominate leads to a situation in which the citizens of independent, democratic states would not decide on their own affairs," Stubb said. "Instead, the undemocratic leaderships of another country would make those decisions."
Stubb said that a just and lasting peace in Ukraine is necessary to restore relations with Russia.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that Russia will not become a peaceful democracy in the next 5-10 years and will continue its course of militarization. Stubb also described the Russian president as a strategic fool and military failure who is unlikely to dare to test the effectiveness of NATO's Article 5.
In June, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte advised the British to learn Russian if the UK government does not increase defense spending.
